CAIRO, Egypt
Egyptian President Abdel
Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday bestowed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with
Egypt’s highest honor as the two countries tightened their partnership.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, June 25, 2023.
El-Sissi welcomed Modi at the
presidential palace in Cairo with the Order of the Nile, the Egyptian
presidency said in a statement. The leaders signed a declaration elevating
Egyptian-Indo ties to a “strategic partnership,” which means the two nations
agreed to intensify their cooperation and hold periodic talks, the statement
said.
Egypt and India share deep
ties that date back to the 1950s, when they played key roles in founding the
Non-Aligned Movement, which sought an alternative path at the height of the
Cold War.
Modi, who arrived
in Cairo on Saturday, is the first Indian prime minister to pay a state
visit to Egypt in more than two decades. His two-day stop came six months after
el-Sissi was in New Delhi as
an official guest at India’s Republic Day parade.
Modi also invited the Egyptian
leader to attend a summit of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing
countries, which India will host in September.
Following his talks with
el-Sissi, Modi visited the famed Pyramids of Giza and a historic mosque,
Cairo’s Al-Hakim, which was recently renovated with the help of the India-based
Dawoodi Bohra community. He also paid tribute to Indian soldiers who died in
World War I and are buried in the Heliopolis War Cemetery in Cairo.
Modi’s trip to Egypt has
focused on strengthening bilateral ties. The prime minister said both countries
have been moving swiftly to increase bilateral trade to $12 billion annually
within five years.
Trade exchange between the two
nations reached $6 billion in last year, a 13.7% increase from $5.3 billion in
2021, according to Egypt’s statistics bureau.
The two governments also
signed agreements in the fields of agriculture, archaeology, antiquities and
competition law, said Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for India’s external affairs
ministry.
“My visit to Egypt was a historic one. It will add renewed vigor to India-Egypt relations and will benefit the people of our nations,” Modi wrote on Twitter before departing to New Delhi.
Earlier this year, both
countries agreed to boost trade cooperation. India, the world’s most populous
country, is one of the top five importers of Egyptian products, including crude
oil and liquefied natural gas, salt, cotton, inorganic chemicals and oilseeds.
Major Indian exports to Egypt include cotton yarn, coffee, herbs, tobacco,
lentils, vehicle parts, ships, boats and electrical machinery.
El-Sissi and Modi, who came to
power in their countries in 2014, have in recent years cultivated a closer
relationship. Over the last 16 months, they have resisted pressure from the
West to condemn the Russian war in Ukraine. Both Egypt and India have
decades-old ties with the Kremlin.
“There is a change in the
global geopolitical and geoeconomic atmosphere wherein both countries wish to
play a defining role,” India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said during a
visit to Cairo in September. “Egypt’s geostrategic location acts as a
connecting link between Africa, West Asia, the Mediterranean, and Europe and is
also an important country from the Indo-Pacific point of view.”
Modi arrived from the United
States, where he held talks
with President Joe Biden and top administration officials, addressed
Congress and met
with top American executives.
His meeting with el-Sissi came
as global attention focused on a
brief rebellion by the head of the Wagner Group, seen as the greatest
challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in
power. Neither leader commented on the Russian crisis.
No comments:
Post a Comment